Clearsilver launches LEAP 2016 social media awards

LEAP is a registered charity that Clearsilver has worked closely with for over five years. Each year, a new group of students split into companies and create, develop and market their own products. Throughout the process, students learn valuable skills in how to grow a successful business, discover new skills in seminar sessions, get real-life experience in how to self-manage and manage a team of peers, and what to do financially to make their company a success.

The process raises the employability skills and confidence of the young people involved, and with our industry expertise in the education sector, it’s a charity that we’re proud to be associated with.

Last year, we launched the very first social media awards in conjunction with LEAP. Awarding two prizes, the team at Clearsilver analysed and documented each team’s progress on social media from the very beginning of the process to the final awards ceremony. At last year’s awards, we presented awards to two different LEAP companies. The first is awarded for best use of social media overall; and the second for the most improved use of social media following a mid-year review. The prize was real-life work experience at Clearsilver, with one-to-one tutorials about how to use social media to get the very best results.

This year, we’re doing it all over again! We had such great feedback from last year’s students (you can read all about it in this blog post), and it was great for us to be able to tutor young people about social media in a business context. So, this summer we’ll be hosting two more internships.

We launched the awards at Wednesday night’s presentation evening, where the participating students were given seminars on everything from how to write financial reports, to how to give a show-stopping presentation. The evening ended with Clearsilver Director, Louise Leach, giving the students guidance and tips on how to create a social media strategy, and generate interest (and sales!) from the social audience.

We’ll be monitoring all of the companies’ social media efforts and announcing the two winners at the Annual Awards ceremony in May this year. Follow @clearsilver and @leapleeds to keep up-to-date with the latest LEAP news.

We set up Clearsilver Brand Marketing in 2006, having spent our early careers with UK Top 50 agencies, building some of the world’s best-known FMCG, pet care and other consumer brands. A full-service agency based in Leeds, we work with clients in a broad range of sectors throughout the UK and Europe.